1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to spare toilet paper roll storage and dispenser containers and more specifically it relates to a toilet paper storage and dispenser container providing a decorative container to hold spare rolls of toilet paper dispensed in a unique way preventing extra rolls from dropping directly onto lower rolls thereby causing them to fall out when the container access door is opened.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It can be appreciated that spare toilet paper roll storage and dispenser containers have been in use for years.
Examples of these containers are outlined below.
EP0413407 relates to a toilet tissue dispenser (Spindle Release) in which a two-roll toilet paper dispenser has a vertical spindle with stop means part way up the spindle. The stop means divides the spindle into a lower portion on which a first toilet paper roll is mounted in an operative position and an upper portion on which a second toilet paper roll is mounted in a storage position. Actuating means are provided for operating the stop means to permit a roll resting thereon in the storage position to drop down the spindle to the operative position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,075 relates to a toilet paper dispenser provided within a housing adapted to be wall mounted. The dispenser comprises a vertically disposed open ended tube mounted inside the housing which is adapted to receive a plurality of rolls of paper. The bottom end of the tube is laterally spaced from the floor of the housing by a distance greater than the height of a roll of paper. The first lever is mounted and biased to a position directly underneath the bottom of the housing to prevent rolls of paper in storage from falling out of the tube, but is pivotal about a vertical axis to clear the bottom of the tube and thus allow a new roll of paper to drop down. A second lever is spaced a distance up the tube to pass into a slot defined in the tube at a level intersecting the second roll of paper from the bottom of the tube. The second lever is biased to clear the tube but is pivotal about a vertical axis to enter the aperture. The first and second levers are connected so that pivoting of the first lever to clear the tube pivots the second lever into the aperture bearing against the second roll of paper in storage. By the co-operating action of the two levers, only one roll of paper drops from storage at a single time.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,577 relates to a toilet tissue dispenser having an automatic locking device for preventing theft of toilet tissue rolls, in which the dispenser is of substantial construction capable of having full rolls of toilet tissue inserted from the top and contained securely therein by a lid cover locked in place, and when a new tissue roll is needed for the tissue dispensing portion of the dispenser, a pivot mechanism is swung by a handle through a 90 degree arc for positioning a spindle in axial alignment with a lower one of several tissue rolls which is dropped in place thereon and the received dispensing tissue roll is pivoted along with the pivot mechanism back to its initial horizontal position, so that the tissues are easily dispensed there from. A protector shield is provided for an ejector mechanism useful in dislodging an empty core of the tissue roll transverse of the toilet tissue dispenser. When the pivot mechanism and a full roll of tissue is in horizontal position, a locking plunger or pin becomes aligned with and enters a hole in the back of the dispenser for locking the pivot mechanism so it will remain locked until a spring biased ejector plate has ejected the core of the depleted roll of tissue with movement of the ejector plate retracting the plunger to enable movement of the pivot mechanism to a position to receive a full roll of tissue.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,912 relates to a multi-roll dispenser for toilet tissue and other similar roll material having a hollow core. The dispenser has a storage container which allows a plurality of rolls to be stored in an end-to-end stack arrangement. The lowest roll can be dispensed by a user through a side opening in the storage container. When the lowest roll is completely used, the user can discharge the roll core by pulling a slide plate outwardly to align an aperture in the slide plate with the used core. The core also drops through a core opening in a pivot plate immediately below the slide plate. The next roll of tissue drops to the slide plate and is supported thereon because it is larger than the core aperture. The dispenser is filled by releasing a lock means and rotating the storage container into a horizontal position. The horizontal position allows a catch means to be released so that the assembly normally supporting the rolls can be swung out of position thereby allowing new rolls of tissue paper to be inserted through the bottom end of the storage container.
A core rod extends from the top end of the storage container in a cantilevered arrangement to align the tissue rolls and to keep the lowest roll from being stolen from the dispenser.
EP0108739 relates to a device for the distribution of materials wound on a support such as for the distribution of paper or other materials in sheet form which have been wound on a hollow cylindrical central support and, in particular, a toilet-paper roll dispenser, the device comprising at least one back-up roll which can be automatically dropped into a use position. The device is provided with a locking means which prevents the roll being used from falling before it is virtually used up.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,454 relates to a tissue roll storage and dispenser apparatus comprising an open-bottomed cabinet having a storage space, a roll support and dispenser device pivotably mounted in the cabinet below the storage space and roll support plate and a cylindrical roll holder below the support plate, and an operating handle accessible from the exterior of the cabinet for pivotably moving the device 90 degrees between a roll-dispensing position and a roll-receiving position. In the roll-dispensing position, rolls of tissue are stacked one on top of another in the storage space with their axes in vertical alignment on the roll support plate. The device is then swung upwardly to roll-receiving position by means of the operating handle, causing the roll support plate to tilt and lift the stack of rolls upward in the storage space until the free end of the cylindrical roll holder engages the core of the lowermost roll in the stack, whereupon that roll drops onto the roll holder. The device is then swung to roll-dispensing position by means of the operating handle wherein the roll on the roll holder is horizontally disposed and accessible through the open bottom of the cabinet and the remaining rolls slide downward to rest upon the support plate. A latch is provided for preventing the device from being tilted upward to receive a new roll until the depleted roll core is axially removed through an access hole in the side of the cabinet.
NL7409712 relates to a toilet paper dispensing machine having a cover releasing an empty roll and allowing a fresh one to drop into place. The housing accommodates a roll accessible via an opening in the front and from which the paper is unrolled, this being carried in supports movable in relation to each other in the axial direction, while a number of reserve rolls are stacked above it. The front opening can be shut by swinging down a cover on a horizontal axis, and this causes the roll supports to move apart, while opening it moves them together again, and at the same time holds the spare rolls up. Thus operation of the cover releases an empty roll, which falls into a hopper underneath, and at the same time allows a fresh one to drop into a position in which the supports engage with it as soon as the cover is swung up again.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,295 relates to a toilet paper roll holding device comprising a housing receiving a plurality of toilet paper rolls one upon another with their axes lying in parallel to each other and including a pair of spaced side walls provided with paper roll core guide grooves; a rockable paper roll receiving and core discharge member pivoted to said side walls and including a pair of spaced arms extending uprightly; a pair of arcuate tracks formed on said side walls on which said arms are guided as said rockable member is pivoted and operation means for said rockable member provided on one of said arms and one of said side walls adjacent to said one arm.
FR2659216 relates to a device for storing and dispensing rolls of toilet paper. The device is designed as an automatic dispenser, it is fixed to the wall of WC's within hand's reach. It can contain 6 to 8 rolls of toilet paper stacked up in a tube, the last roll being offered up into an opening made on the side of the lower part of the cylinder. The rolls drop down in the tube as they are used. Perforations made over the entire height of the cylinder make it possible to view the number of rolls available in the dispenser.
The main problem with conventional toilet paper roll dispensers is the drop mechanism can fail requiring a user's hand be forced up into the spare roll area to make a toilet paper roll drop down. The present toilet paper storage and dispenser container contains a spare storage container but not a manual or automatic toilet paper spring loaded dispenser. When the container's door is manually opened to remove a single roll of toilet paper, other rolls stored in the container are held in place while the door is open. The next roll of toilet paper is extracted from the door and manually placed on a spring mounted toilet paper roll dispenser.
Another problem with spare toilet paper roll containers is they do not look like a piece of quality bathroom cabinetry but are usually contained in a lace holder or combined spare toilet paper container and spring loaded dispensing unit.
While these devices may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they are not suitable to provide both a decorative storage cylinder for holding spare toilet paper rolls and they do not have the unique mechanism stopping other rolls from dropping directly onto the lower rolls or out of a spare roll cabinet all at one time as in the toilet paper storage and dispenser container of this invention nor has any of the available prior art been designed to have the look and feel of a custom piece of bathroom furniture or bathroom cabinetry as outlined in this invention.
In these respects, the toilet paper storage and dispenser container according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the available prior art, and in so doing provides a device primarily developed to provide a decorative spare toilet paper container for storing and manually extracting toilet paper rolls enabling each roll be dispensed in a unique way so that all stored rolls do not fall out of the access door at the same time nor requiring they be forcibly ejected when they fail to drop down.